James Timothy Gleeson Australia, 1915-2008
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About James Gleeson
Known as Australia's foremost surrealist artist, James Gleeson was born in Hornsby, Sydney. He studied at East Sydney Technical College and Sydney Teacher’s College. He first exhibited surrealist paintings at the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne in 1939. From 1947 to 1949 he worked and studied in Europe, and in 1958 and 1959 in Europe and the USA. He was twice the President of the Contemporary Art Society, NSW, was an art critic for a Melbourne newspaper, and lectured at Sydney Teacher’s College. His many awards include Honorary Doctorates from Macquarie University, Sydney and the University of New South Wales.
James Gleeson is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1967 of 2,103, of which 1,579 (75%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $288,000 for Portrait of the Artist as an Evolving Landscape sold by Bonhams & Goodman in August 2007. This year 7 works have been offered for sale. Works by James Gleeson are held by the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia and a further eight major public national galleries (see list below).
James Gleeson is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 464
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 253
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 315
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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